Last weekend my sister Lisa and I crashed the Lifestyle Visit my brother Denny and his wife Marlene made to The Villages in central Florida. Lisa and I have both lived in Florida for a while now and have, of course, heard about The Villages. Neither of us knew much about it though or had ever been there. We siblings looked forward to all being together, but we were also looking forward to seeing for ourselves what all the hype is about at The Villages.
The Villages is so big and so developed that it surprised me during my research for this blog at how short (to my mind) the recent history of its growth has been. It’s been called Disney World for Seniors. The picture above, of the Brownwood Town Square, looks like Disney World for sure. Felt like it too when we were there to listen to a band called Penta last Friday night.
The development of Florida itself has an interesting history. One of the preeminent novels depicting that early history (1860s to the mid-1920s) is called A Land Remembered by Patrick D Smith. It’s an excellent read, confirmed by several folks I recommended it to who took the time to read it. In 1925 overbuilding and greed shattered Florida real estate dreams with northern press outlets warning against investment scams. In 1926 a Cat-4 hurricane in Miami devastated Miami and pushed Florida into a financial depression 3 years ahead of the rest of the country. It wouldn’t recover until after World War II.
After WWII, Americans had more money and more leisure time. Land sales in Florida started thriving among northerners again with mail-order deals like $10 down, $10 a month. By the mid-1960s, many retirement communities were flourishing. Land investors like Michigan Harold Schwartz businessman and his partner Al Tarrson were selling the dream until 1968 when Congress banned land sales by mail.
Schwartz and Tarrson still held a lot of land in central Florida and so began development of a mobile home retirement community called Orange Blossom Gardens. Schwartz bought Tarrson out in the early 1980s after their partnership had only sold 400 homes. Schwartz was impacted by something his sister, Ethel Shaw, told him about her experience living in a successful retirement development in Arizona. Ethel said that it isn’t location, location, location that attracts retirees, it’s lifestyle, lifestyle, lifestyle that attracts retirees. Wanting to turn things around, in 1983 Schwartz brought in his son, Gary Morse, to help.
The story goes that almost overnight, the change in focus and style transformed Orange Blossom Gardens. Gary Morse arrived in central Florida on March 1, 1983 and by the end of the year had sold 99 homes. In 1985, understanding that the lack of commercial, recreational and medical facilities would hinder growth, the first golf course and country club was built along with bocce ball, horseshoes, and tennis courts. A second pool was also added.
Over the next several years more recreational facilities were built, and the Morse family traveled to Japan to learn how to build manufactured homes. They added an industrial park near Orange Blossom Gardens so they could build their own manufactured homes near where they would be placed. It became the premier manufactured home retirement development in the world. In 1989 the concept of neighborhoods was introduced and the development name was changed to The Villages. They acquired more land across the highway, began to build infrastructure and site-built (as opposed to manufactured) homes. The Villages grew and expanded and grew and expanded some more. The vision for growth focused on lifestyle, lifestyle, lifestyle became successful beyond (I imagine) anyone’s wildest imagination.
Today, according to its website, TheVillages.com, 145,000 people call The Villages home. It’s a 55+ retirement community, and the most efficient way to get around your neighborhood is by golf car. It seems everyone has one, and boy, they are as unique as the people who own them. Your golf car (not cart!) can be used to make a statement about you. Denny and Marlene showed us an ad in The Villages Daily Sun newspaper for a 1957 Stretch Chevy golf car for sale….only $11,900. It might even be the one in the picture here.
The area The Villages now occupies is approximately 57 square miles though so we needed a regular car to get to some of the entertainment. It took us a half hour to drive 11 miles from where we stayed to the Spanish Springs town square.
When they talk about lifestyle at The Villages, they aren’t kidding around. There’s literally something for everyone. There are more than 3,000 activities and clubs. In fact, they have a club just for people named Elaine! There are more than 50 golf courses, 55 pools, 4 town squares that have entertainment 365 days a year, a polo club, theaters, something like 160 miles of golf car paths, lakes, shopping, health care, and apparently, an incredibly happy population. It was actually almost overwhelming. Marlene commented to me that the women seem especially fit there. No wonder. If you take advantage of even a tiny portion of the activities, you’ll never stop moving. We visited the Eisenhower Recreation Center on Saturday morning. Each rec center is themed, and Eisenhower is devoted to the US military. It was a nice place to be on Veterans Day morning since Denny and I are both veterans. We were told that The Villages has the largest concentration of military veterans living in one location in the country outside of military bases.
The Eisenhower Rec Center also had what they called a craft fair that morning. I’ve been to craft fairs and trust me when I say that it was more of an artist exhibition than a craft fair. The things for sale, all made in The Village by Village residents, was astonishing. I was glad we’d walked over to the Rec Center without money or credit cards. I didn’t need anything I saw, but oh Lordy, I wanted some of that beauty in my home.
We looked at some open houses, including one Denny and Marlene called their dream home. It was truly spectacular from the perspective of our family who grew up in middle class Wisconsin. Denny and Marlene said they are going to live in The Villages someday. Timing will depend on when they can wrap up all their obligations in Wisconsin. Lisa and I, having lived in Florida now for a few years, were impressed, but not interested in moving there. We both like our close proximity to the gulf coast beaches too much. For us, no other activity makes up for that. But we may visit Denny and Marlene often. They’ll be glad they have that big house to entertain all the people who come out of the woodwork to help them enjoy their lifestyle choices.
If you’re interested in a Lifestyle Visit to The Villages, contact Denny and Marlene’s realtor who works exclusively for Properties of The Villages. They couldn’t stop raving about Kelli Collard and how helpful and generous she is in making their visit remarkable. If you need her phone number, contact me.
P.S. Denny said he was told during one of their tours of The Villages that the Morse family wanted to create a place where everyone “could live like a millionaire.” I couldn’t find any documented evidence of that, but documented or not, it seems as though they achieved that goal. It’s easy to feel rich in The Villages, whether that richness has to do with money or not. Interesting that I wrote about that just last week.
P.P.S. During my research I also found a lot of information about what some consider the downsides of living in The Villages. It’s true there are always two sides to every story. Just as in every major life decision we make, be sure to be diligent in seeking out both sides so you can make the best choice for you.
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